Rating: 
Summary: Terrific!
Review: This is a really fun romp through the history of Harvard, which, as it turns out, is quite inextricable from the history of this continent. Martin manages to combine a truly original premise, an intriguing quest narrative, and a modern detective story into a single well-paced book. If you've ever been through Boston, or gazed at the ivy-covered brick of Harvard Yard, you'll really enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Harvard, "the beginning of things and the center of things."
Review: Through Harvard grad Peter Fallon, a rare book dealer, author William Martin reveals the more than three hundred fifty years of Harvard history and its intimate connections to the history of New England and the nation. An ancient legend says that Robert Harvard, father of John Harvard, for whom the college was named, lived in Stratford-on-Avon and was a friend of Shakespeare. Supposedly, Shakespeare gave him a hand-written manuscript of a now-lost play as a wedding present, sometime around 1605. Author Martin uses this legend as the fulcrum around which the book turns and speculates about what might have happened to the play over the course of almost four hundred years. A dozen generations after Shakespeare gave the manuscript to Robert Harvard, a member of the Wedge family engages Peter Fallon of Back Bay to try to confirm the existence of the manuscript and ascertain its whereabouts. As Fallon begins his research into the story of the Isaac Wedge, thought to have received the manuscript from John Harvard, he introduces us to such luminaries as Cotton Mather, a religious zealot who began Harvard at age 11; George Burroughs, who was executed in the Salem Witch Trials; Caleb Wedge, who fought in the Revolutionary War; Theodore Wedge, a friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau; and eventually to Joseph Kennedy, Harry Widener, John Kenneth Galbraith, Robert Oppenheimer, and President Franklin Roosevelt. We witness the horrors of King Philip's War and the religious excesses of the Salem Witch Trials, the Great Boston Fire, the Civil War, the sinking of the Titanic, two world wars, and the opening of the college to Jews, blacks, and women. Martin's concern is to make history lively and understandable, his characters sympathetic and often noble. He humanizes even the dour Puritans and the earliest settlers, observing the commonplaces of their lives. A great deal of humor enlivens the novel, which even includes chases reminiscent of slapstick farce. He emphasizes basic ideas, rather than the minutiae of history, entertaining his readers, rather than bogging down in complex details. Ultimately, Martin explains how succeeding administrations at Harvard have ensured that the brightest students from all walks of life will have the same opportunities for intellectual growth, regardless of income level or sex. This huge and entertaining novel is a tribute both to Harvard and to the men and women it has educated--popular history at its best. Mary Whipple
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful novel!
Review: What a great read, and what a wonderful history instructional all in one! With HARVARD YARD, William Martin proves yet again that he is the best there is at weaving historical fact into riveting fictional narrative. I've met only two or three people in my life who attended Harvard, yet I loved this book.
Rating:
Summary: Bill Martin Does it Again
Review: Whenever I feel the need to read a pure work of historical fiction, I look to see what Mr. Martin has written. I have read all of his stories, and there is one consistency throughout; The stories are phenomenal! It's almost like reading two books simultaneously, only to find that they are intertwined entirely. I have tried my hand at fictional writing, and usually got tripped up on keeping my details straight somewhere around page 6! Mr. Martin keeps hundreds of details in perfect order throughout the book. I hope he is right when he says "a man is known by his books" because I proudly have Mr. Martin's collection of gems in my library.
Rating:
Summary: Bill Martin Does it Again
Review: Whenever I feel the need to read a pure work of historical fiction, I look to see what Mr. Martin has written. I have read all of his stories, and there is one consistency throughout; The stories are phenomenal! It's almost like reading two books simultaneously, only to find that they are intertwined entirely. I have tried my hand at fictional writing, and usually got tripped up on keeping my details straight somewhere around page 6! Mr. Martin keeps hundreds of details in perfect order throughout the book. I hope he is right when he says "a man is known by his books" because I proudly have Mr. Martin's collection of gems in my library.
Rating:
Summary: MUCH ADO ABOUT SOMETHING
Review: You've gotta love a story that introduces William Shakespeare, as one of the characters, on the very first page! That's how William Martin begins his latest novel, HARVARD YARD. Robert Harvard, father of someday-to-be founder of Harvard University, John Harvard, is on his way to Stratford-On-Avon to visit his friend Will. Bill Martin has fashioned quite a wonderful tale from this meeting between friends. We get re-introduced to Peter Fallon, an antiquarian book dealer from Martin's previous novel, BACK BAY, who is now on the trail of something even more exciting than a Paul Revere Tea Set. (Well, I certainly would rather have a lost manuscript of Shakespeare's even more than the tea set!).
The character that energizes this novel is the University itself. Its presence and influence are felt throughout Harvard Alum Martin's compelling story. We come to see that Harvard, more than any other University, has the stature and cachet to construct this story around. Major events in our history are seen through the portal of Harvard and a quintessential Harvard family, the Wedge's. We learn of Harvard's simple origins and how it grew and becomes the force it is today. We meet important influences in the University's development, such as that fun father and son duo, Increase and Cotton Mather. (They kind of remind me of that joke about a Puritan minister's always having a sour look on his face because somewhere, somehow, someone is having a good time.). We learn why theater is the Devil's work. Why the Colonial fathers made a law against theater in 1767. (Play. A mere word and the uttering of it was like the sound of a gun.)
We discover that Harvard Graduation, long ago, was a Cambridge holiday. It turned Cambridge Commons into a kind of Mardi Gras. We learn the sad circumstance that lead to the creation of the Widener Library. We take side trips to the Salem Witch Trials and the great Boston fire that destroyed much of the financial district of the time. We eavesdrop on a lecture by Ralph Waldo Emerson at the Divinity School.
Historical heavyweights such as Joseph Kennedy, Robert Oppenheimer and John Kenneth Galbraith make appearances. As does President Franklin Roosevelt. Martin shows us why Harvard is as tradition bound as his ANNAPOLIS. And how important tradition is to our great institutions. The book is a wealth of Harvard lore and myth and American History, guided by Bill Martin's usual deft hand and obvious love of history and his Harvard.
Throughout our country's good times and bad, times of war and times of peace, Harvard has had a hand to play, contributions to make. In this fast-paced, informative novel, Bill Martin once again takes us on an exciting and enlightening journey, back and forth through time.
If, as Robert Harvard instills in his son John, 'A man will be known by his books,' then certainly William Martin will be known by this book, too. It's vintage William Martin. Fans of history will love this book. Fans of Harvard will love this book. And those who just want a good story will love this book!
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